Circling KROWs
by Madninja324
Summary: <html><head></head>Some teams, like RWBY and JNPR, are bright beacons of hope, but humanity often needs those who walk darker paths towards the same goal, This is the story of Team KROW, a Faunus with a deadly secret, A gunner who can't stand physical contact, a formerly brainwashed assassin, and a silent giant, will these four become the hope for the future, or it's destruction?</html>
1. Prologue: Kuro Tepes

(Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY)

The Reaper

Kuro Tepes sat in the train car, idly watching the scenery. He was headed to Vale, the third city he'd been forced to move to, each time he'd hoped that he could get lost in the crowd, but it was kind of hard to hide when you were a seventeen year old bat Faunus with one eye constantly covered in bandages, and was constantly armed. Kuro had pointed ears and sharp canines, as well as a pair of large bat wings that he kept under his long, black trench coat, along with his weapons: Drakul, his collapsable, energy absorbing scythe, and his twin pistols, Pain and Suffering. His uncovered eye was black, and always heavily shadowed from sleep deprivation, his lanky frame and long black hair, swept over his left eye, the one that was always bandaged, led most people to underestimate him, that was a mistake.

A man walked into the train car, he was carrying a rifle and wearing a ski mask.

"This is a robbery!" The man shouted. Everyone but Kuro froze, he began slowly pulling Drakul from it's sheath at the small of his back, the two foot rod of black metal had a slit on one end, and two buttons in the middle, Kuro pressed the second button, one foot of silvery metal popped out of the slit, which had been crafted to look like a fanged maw, a thin black chain extended from the bottom of the weapon, the link on the end of the chain clipped to the black bracer on Kuro's left forearm. Kuro threw his kama and chain with perfect accuracy, the blade embedded itself in the rifle, a quick yank from Kuro had the short scythe blade slicing cleanly through the gun before returning to it's master as he retracted the chain, Kuro stepped onto the seat in front of him and hit the robber with a flying kick, Kuro tied the robber up with his own belt and removed all his weapons before opening the door between the cars, there was another robber in the next car, Kuro pulled Pain from it's holster, the boxy black pistol with red lines swept upward to point at the latch on the door, one shot and the door sprang open, the robber raised his rifle, but Drakul's chain wrapped around the gun, Kuro yanked it out of it's owner's hands, he leapt into the car, his scythe flying past him, flinging the gun out of the train, two shots from Pain to the robber's legs and Drakul retracted back to Kuro's hand, he then put two more shot's in the man's arms, each.

One of the passengers spoke up. "Are you a Huntsman?"

"No."

A woman spoke. "It doesn't matter, I heard the robber talking to his boss on his radio, they're on top of the cars, and plan to blow them up once they're off." The passengers began muttering fearfully, Kuro let out a sulphurous curse, then he dashed up the ladder in between the cars to the top, there were eleven men on top of the train cars. Kuro pressed the first button on Drakul's shaft, the chain detached from the bracer and retracted into Drakul, the shaft extended to six feet, and the blade extended to it's full length, Pain was returned to it's holster.

The wind blew Kuro's hair and set his coat flapping revealing his black t-shirt with a white skull with black bat wings sprouting from it emblazoned on his chest, this was his symbol. The five men on the roof drew swords and charged, Kuro ran forward and swept the first man off his feet with the backside of Drakul, he twirled the scythe, deflecting two slashes to the side, then he kicked one of the robbers in the stomach, taking one hand off his scythe, Kuro grabbed the man by his head and activated his Semblance, he watched the man grow weaker, as his energy was being drawn into Kuro, the sight caused his comrades to hesitate, partly because Kuro was effectively holding the man hostage, and partly out of fearful revulsion, Kuro let go before he actually killed the man, but he wouldn't be moving anytime soon, Kuro's right hand, now glowing black, grasped the handle of his scythe, instantly the energy spread up the shaft to the blade, which didn't glow, but instead changed color, from silver to black, Kuro swiped his weapon through the air, an arc of jet black energy struck the remaining three men, just before they fell off the train, Kuro dropped Drakul and drew his guns, he flipped a switch and they became crossbows with no strings, metal spikes stuck out of place where the gun barrels used to be, Kuro pressed the trigger on both weapons, then he fired Suffering again, and the spikes flew out out, a second one appearing in Suffering before being fired as well, the three spikes nailed the men to the next car by their shirts. reverting the crossbows to gun form, he returned them to their holsters and kicked Drakul back into his hands, the three robbers on the next car looked at each other, then they pulled out rifles and opened fire, Kuro twirled Drakul as fast as possible, the scythe absorbed the Dust rounds, the blade growing steadily darker, until the robbers realised that their guns were useless, Kuro couldn't afford to waste any more time on them, he leapt the gap and slammed the shaft of his scythe into the head of the first man, a flash of grey light and the other two collapsed as well, Drakul's blade returning to it's previous silvery sheen, Kuro collapsed Drakul into it's kama and chain form, drew Pain in it's crossbow form, and jumped the next gap, he nailed one man's feet to the roof, tripped another with Drakul's chain and nailed his hands to the roof, he dodged a slash from the third man, shifted Pain to gun form, and shot him in the leg, then he kicked all the rifles off the train.

There were three cars in front, a boxcar for the luggage too large for the luggage compartments, and then the engine, Kuro descended into the space between the cars, he collapsed his scythe and put it away, drawing both his guns, he shot the door open to the car behind him, shifted both weapons and shot four spikes into the robber's rifle, rendering it useless, when he drew his sword, he got a bullet in each shoulder joint, and a bullet in each kneecap, the robber in the car he was in pointed his gun at Kuro, who, to the man's astonishment, jumped _off_ the train, the Dust rounds hit the trench coat instead, the robber smirked, and was about to resume collecting valuables when a red spike hit the firing mechanism on his rifle, rendering it useless, the man turned to see the young man outside the window, flapping a pair of bat wings to keep from being blown away by the train's slipstream, a red crossbow with black lines on it (Suffering) pointed at the robber, who got the message and quickly divested himself of his weapons and dropped them out the window, Kuro still shot the man in the hip. Kuro fought against the wind flapping his wings as hard as possible, when he landed on the boxcar, he heard a whirring noise, he rolled forward as a storm of bullets punched through the roof, Kuro swung down into the boxcar and extended Drakul, his opponent was a huge man carrying a gatling gun, Kuro dove behind a stack of large metal crates, as the barrels began to rotate, his cover held, but the huge man didn't stop firing.

"Come on out you filthy animal! Or are you too much of a coward to face me like a man! Not that you are one, but you could at least pretend, until I fill you with bullets."

"No thanks, I think I'll pass on that suggestion." Kuro retracted his scythe, put it away, and drew Pain and Suffering, he popped up and opened fire on the large man, who raised his weapon to block the shots, before leveling it and returning fire.

"You'll never take me down fast enough to stop the bomb! The robbery was just a diversion, those idiots have no idea who our boss is, or what we're doing!"

Kuro cursed silently, the bomb was set, and if it was in the engine the red Dust crystals fueling the train would make the explosion devastating, it was time for drastic measures. Kuro reached up and began ripping the bandages from his left eye, when they were off, he opened the eye, instead of white the part of the eye surrounding the glowing blood red iris was pure black, immediately, blood began leaking like tears from the black eye, black energy, Kuro's aura, began swirling around him, as if opening the black eye had rendered it unstable, which was the truth.

(Monster By Skillet plays)

A mad grin on his face Kuro calmly walked out into the open, extending Drakul as he did so.

"So, you've decided to die on your feet, eh? I could almost respect that if you weren't a filthy Faunus."

When Kuro spoke, his voice was distorted, as if someone else, whose voice was high pitched and grating, was speaking at the exact same time as the scythe wielding bat Faunus.

"Nope." He corrected cheerfully. "I've decided that I've had enough of your ugly mug, so I think I'll just kill you now."

"You don't kill! I can still feel everyone's auras."

"Interesting, a Sensor, you don't look the type, but no matter, the Weakling isn't home right now, he's stepped aside and let me run the show for a bit, he could have taken you, but I'll be faster, and that bomb has him worried. I'll enjoy ripping you apart!"

"You freak!" The gatling gun began spinning, but before it fired, Kuro was there in the blink of an eye, a slash of Drakul removed the big man's arm from his shoulder, a hand grabbed the man by the throat, and to his utter shock, the one armed man found himself lifted above Kuro's head, the possessed Bat Faunus opened his mouth to catch the blood falling from the big man's wound as he drew the man's energy into his body.

When the last of the leader's life force was drained from his body, Kuro tossed the corpse aside with a contemptuous glance then he spoke to what seemed like nobody.

"Alright weakling, you can have your body back, I've had my fun, not that there was very much to be had, he was even weaker than you, his blood didn't even taste good." The black eye closed for the first time since the bandages had come off, there was a scar running down Kuro's face, bisecting his left eyebrow, his eyelid and a few inches down his cheek.

(Song ends)

Kuro stuck his finger down his throat to force himself to vomit up the blood he'd swallowed while his evil eye had been open. _Weakling, aren't you forgetting something?_ The second voice, clear of the interference of Kuro's own voice, asked in a mocking tone, the other him was alway active after he came to the forefront, but he was right, Kuro needed to stop the bomb. The blood covered Faunus boy ran into the engine, the conductor and the maintenance guys were tied up in the corner, Kuro didn't have to search for the bomb, it was placed in the center of the floor, he didn't bother trying to disarm it, he wouldn't know how, and his aura was perfect for destroying the bomb, he had a large amount of excess energy from the dead man, he pumped it all into the device, which disintegrated harmlessly, twenty seconds left on the clock.

When the train stopped in Vale Kuro, who had rewrapped his left eye, was met by a middle aged human in a dark green suit, with silver hair and a cane.

"Kuro Tepes, what you did today was quite impressive."

"Who are you, and how did you know I was the one to stop the attack?"

"My name is Ozpin, I am the Headmaster at Beacon, and I would like to offer you a place at my school, should you accept, I would, of course, do everything in my considerable power to make sure that those who pursue you will meet with failure, I do not allow _anyone_ to bring harm to my students."

Kuro hadn't been given much reason to trust humans, or even others of his own kind, but he felt he could trust this man.

"I accept."

"Very well, the school year starts in three days, I expect you to be at Vale's skyport at ten sharp on that day, and from this point on you will refer to me as Professor Ozpin."

"Very well, Professor, one condition though."

"Yes?"

Kuro smiled. "I'll need a new coat."

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><p>(Author's note: this is now the third simultaneous story I'm working on, and it will be somewhat darker than my other two, Kuro's last name, and the name of his scythe are both references to Vlad the Impaler. Read, Enjoy, Review.)<p> 


	2. Prologue: Reina Waters

**The Gunner**

**She walked through the filthy clouds of smoke that permeated the air of the disgusting bar, a large chandelier hung from the ceiling. She was easily the most beautiful thing in the room, with long, dead straight blonde hair, a to die for body, a face that stopped traffic more effectively than a red light, and icy blue eyes that surveyed everything around her with revulsion, a pair of handguns were holstered under her arms, a sniper rifle was strapped to her back, and her clothes were simple, a white tank top, and cut off jeans, she wore no makeup and the only jewelry she had was a small silver locket.**

**A drunk man slapped her butt, and she exploded, she grabbed the man by the arm and flipped him, pure fury on her face. **

**"****NOBODY TOUCHES ME! YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SCUM!" The girl pulled one of her pistols, and shot the man in the stomach, then she kicked him three times. The entire bar went quiet, every face turned to the girl.**

**She drew her other pistol. "Where is Rizzo Blue? I have some questions for him."**

**"****Then you have an odd way of showing it little lady, you come into my bar, attack one of my patrons, and demand to see me, I fail to see why I shouldn't just kill you and dump your body in the alley." The deceptively polite voice of one of the men on a barstool, he was tall, and impeccably dressed in stark contrast to the cesspool that was his bar, he wore a blue suit with darker blue vertical stripes, a black dress shirt, royal blue tie, blue dress pants, and black loafers, a cane topped by a blue Dust crystal in his hands. The girl combined the two pistols into an assault rifle, a blade popped out beneath the barrel and she pointed it at Rizzo.**

**"****Because if you don't, then I will be very angry."**

**"****Reina Waters, top of Sanctum's marksmanship class, before you dropped out and you mysteriously disappeared two years ago, you know, Miss Waters, there's a rather large bounty on your head for the murder of your uncle, one of Mistral's esteemed Councilmen."**

**"****I didn't kill that bastard, I'm looking for the man who took that particular pleasure for himself, I want to make him pay for stealing my prey, he's a member of the anarchist group, Silver Eye, he's known as Hellrider."**

**"****You're after the Demonic Sadist?" This simultaneously seemed to shock and amuse the crap out him, because after looking at her like she was completely insane, he began roaring with laughter. Reina growled menacingly, and opened fire on the man, who raised his cane and deflected the Dust rounds with a burst of blue aura.**

**The amusement vanished from Rizzo's face. "You need to work on that temper girly, whoever captures the bitch will get forty percent of the million Lien reward, that's four hundred thousand, for those of you who didn't make it through basic math, and it could be yours, if you capture that girl." The men all pulled weapons.**

**A man with a massive sword charged, he swung, and the girl rolled backward and to her feet, she shot the man in the gut, it wouldn't kill him, his aura could heal him, but it would take long, painful hours. using the assumption that a gunner would refrain from close combat against her opponents, she charged a man holding a halberd rifle, and slashed him across the chest with the blade on her assault rifle, Empty Moon, then she shot both his legs, and kicked the weapon out of his hand. She separated Empty Moon into it's pistol forms and shot several men, making sure not to kill anyone, before recombining the pistols, as a pair of men with swords jumped out at her from behind an overturned table, she blocked a strike, kicked another out of the way, and slashed the first man's wrist, flipping Empty Moon, and clubbing the man with the butt of the rifle, before flipping the gun and blocking another sword stroke, reaching behind her, Reina pulled the sniper rifle from her back, she held it by the barrel, pressed a button, and the rifle collapsed, the barrel shortened, the stock folded into the body, and a sword blade sprang out, she slashed the man across the torso, and kicked him away, then she charged, a weapon in each hand, her sniper sword, Shattered Soul, led the way, she blocked a club with her sword and shot it's owner with Empty Moon, whirling, Reina shifted Shattered Soul to gun form and, using the accuracy that caused her set, and break, eleven marksmanship records in the entire Kingdom of Mistral, shot one handed, the bullet flew across the room and entered the barrel of an enemy rifle, causing the gun to explode as the red and white Dust used as propellant detonated from the impact. Turning Reina shot each of the remaining thugs, until she came to Rizzo, the cane wielding gangster blocked all the rounds aimed at him.**

**Both guns clicked empty at the same time, ejecting both empty clips she shifted Shattered Soul into sword form, and charged.**

**"****Oh, look, you're out of ammo, so you think you can take me at close range? Don't make me laugh." Rizzo's cane glowed blue, he swiped it in the air, and a multitude of ice shards were launched at the blonde girl, who slid under them, she stabbed at her opponent with Empty Moon, but the strike was knocked aside, Shattered Soul was similarly deflected, and while she was recovering, Rizzo hit Reina in the face with his cane, then clubbed her in the stomach, and kicked her in the face, and punched her away. Reina stumbled backward, then she came back up, face white with rage.**

**"****NO ONE TOUCHES ME!" Reina threw away her weapons and pulled a small metal ball out of her pocket, she held her hand out flat, the metal ball on her palm.**

**"****What are you going to do with that?"**

**In answer she activated her Semblance, the little piece of metal rocketed towards Rizzo, who raised his cane to block the projectile, only for it to blast straight through the cane, and the man behind it.**

**Reina walked over, and kneeled next to the injured gangster.**

**"****You'd better start talking, I might decide to leave without calling an ambulance if you take too long, I've got to catch an airship to Vale soon, I'm going to be attending Beacon."**

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><p><strong>(Author's Note: please read, enjoy, and review.)<strong>


	3. Prologue: Eren Orchid

The Assassin

Eren Orchid woke up at the first scuff of feet outside her door, reaching over to her headboard, she grabbed her mecha shifting katana: Purgatory, still in it's sheath, which she hung across her back as she rolled out of bed, she slept in her combat attire: A yellow sleeveless tunic top, held closed by a line of tiny red ties, over a black tank top, with a short grey skirt (AN: Think Ein's outfit from Phantom: Requiem of the Phantom's first episode, minus the mask), she was tiny, barely five foot one, and not quite a hundred and ten pounds, with short black hair with two little curved sideburns, seemingly delicate facial features, and bottle green eyes. (again think Ein from Phantom)

Eren moved quickly but calmly to the opposite wall, where her mecha shifting pistol/knives, Puppet, and Mirror, hung, in gun form, from the belts that held their holsters, which she slung on her shoulders, her pursuers would be here any second, and she would need all the weapons she could get if she was going to kill them. Finally she reached into her top drawer, and took the packets of Lien, three spare ammo clips and the blank faceless mask, the money and ammo she put in her pockets, the mask went onto her face, if her pursuers wanted a Phantom, they would get one.

It was too late to run, they most likely had snipers outside to keep her from going out the window, so she drew Puppet and Mirror in their gun forms, and kicked her own door off it's hinges with an aura infused kick, the door knocked two men to the ground, Eren shot two others between the eyes, then she rolled forward onto the downed door, dodging two more bursts of gunfire, Puppet and Mirror shifted to melee forms and Eren buried a knife in each of the two remaining men who'd been directly outside her door, rapidly, she drew Purgatory and shifted it into sniper rifle mode before making sure that the hallway was clear, before returning Purgatory to sword mode and stabbing the men trapped under the door, and her own weight, which wouldn't have held them if they hadn't been stunned by the impact. Sheathing Purgatory, Eren retrieved Puppet and Mirror, the noise had likely alerted the other residents of the hotel, and most of them had probably already called the police, cursing in her head the masked girl reverted her knives into gun form and holstered them. then she ran down the hall, she turned a corner to find the hallway ahead full of thugs, she drew Puppet and Mirror, shifted them into knives, and charged.

(Out of Control by Hoobastank plays)

The former Phantom jumped and rolled over a thug's shoulder, slicing his throat on the way down, when she hit the floor, Eren sprang to her feet, buried Puppet in the gut of the man in front of her, shifted Mirror and shot the two men on either side of her in the throat, using the impaled man's body as a shield, then she removed Puppet and let the man fall, shifting the knife into pistol form and opening fire on the three men in front of her, they fell without having the chance to do anything, Eren ejected the empty clips in her pistols and replaced them with the two spare magazines, the third one was for Purgatory.

At the end of the hallway, in front of the emergency exit, was another group of men with weapons, the four gunmen in the group of nine aimed their guns at her and fired, Eren drew her sword and activated her Semblance, her reaction time sped up to the point where the Dust rounds seemed to be moving in slow motion, she either dodged, or blocked all the rounds, running straight for the group, a slash across the first gunman's chest, a twirl, and she removed the left and right arms, respectively from the second and third gunmen. A shot from Mirror dropped the fourth, her Semblance deactivated. Purgatory's blade flashed out and beheaded a sword wielder, Mirror shifted into a knife and caught a sword stroke, Purgatory stopped another, Eren suddenly dropped both weapons and drew Puppet, firing three shots point blank into the man on her left, before shifting her gun into a knife, she blocked a slash, high kicked another man in the face, dropped into a backwards roll, and scooped up Mirror, and dashed in low, gutting one man, turning aside a slash, and stabbing her attacker in the heart, and shooting the last man between the eyes, both weapons were holstered in gun form, and she scooped up her sword.

In the alley behind the hotel, Eren was brought up short in sheer horror, at the end of the alley was a young man, approximately her age, with brown hair, his face was hidden behind a featureless mask identical to hers, a katana was strapped to his back, a pair of pistols hung at his waist, and he stood like a puppet at the beginning of the show, arms outstretched with elbows limp, forearms dangling, his head lolled to one side, the mask hid his features, but Eren knew what he looked like, he had brown eyes and a strong, clean shaven face, that she knew would be as blank as his mask (Think Zwei from Phantom: RotP). It was impossible, he was dead, _she had killed him when he jumped in front of their master_, but it was unmistakably her old partner: Reiji Vermillion, the second phantom.

(Music stops)

"Reiji..." Eren was paralyzed by horror, guilt, relief, and fear.

Silently, Reiji moved into action, he drew his sword, inside the guard was a rotating selector of Dust vials, while Eren had gone with technology while creating her weapons, Reiji had always relied on Dust. The movement snapped Eren out of her trance and had her drawing Purgatory. The two phantoms clashed in the alley, both of them used their auras to boost their speed and strength, Eren leapt off the wall and attacked her old partner from above, Reiji's sword, Heaven, intercepted the strike, but Eren flipped in midair and landed on her feet outside the alley with her Semblance activated, three rifles fired, she dodged all three shots, and deflected a strike from Heaven, her Semblance cut out again, Purgatory shifted to rifle form, and Eren fired at the ground beneath her feet, launching herself into the air, she caught the edge of a rooftop and flipped herself onto it, rolling so that she was facing the building where the snipers were stationed, she got off one shot, before she was forced to roll out of the way of Reiji, who had leapt from wall to wall in the alley, until he reached the rooftop where Eren was, his sword was glowing red, and when the stab hit the roof, a ring of fire expanded outward, Purgatory returned to katana mode, and Eren spun it rapidly, deflecting the flames, then she attacked, the selector on Heaven spun and the blade was sheathed in yellow light, Eren was forced to stop her slash in mid motion, if he blocked this strike she would be electrocuted, instead she spun down onto one knee and struck with a low horizontal slash, which he jumped over, Eren drew Mirror in knife form, and stabbed upward as he was coming down, the tip of the knife pierced the mask, before he knocked her left hand away. As he landed, the top right quarter of Reiji's mask broke off, revealing one brown eye.

The two fighters stopped as the male assassin reached up and removed his broken mask, despite the situation Eren's heart gave a little flutter, a reaction she quickly suppressed. He wouldn't hesitate to kill her, but she didn't want to kill him, he was what she used to be, a brainwashed puppet with nearly unequalled skill at assassinations, she was the reason it was nearly, rather than completely unequalled, she was faster and more experienced, but he was stronger, and had more natural talent than she'd ever possessed, but she could take him, the snipers didn't have clear shots, but that was only because Reiji was too close to her, so she either needed to keep using him as a meat shield, or get inside a building, eventually the snipers would be given the order to shoot even if Reiji was in the way, he was a valuable tool to their masters, but tools could be replaced.

Eren activated her Semblance, shifted Mirror into gun mode and fired three shots at her former partner, then she shifted Purgatory and jumped at a window on the next building, three shots from her rifle and Eren flared her aura and smashed through the window into an abandoned room, her Semblance deactivated, quite a few of the buildings in this part of Vale were abandoned, and considered unsafe for use, she walked quickly into the hallway, the building wasn't safe to be running around in, so she moved as quickly as she could. A crash and thud above her told her that Reiji had joined her in the old building. Eren moved to the end of the hallway, the staircase down had broken and fallen in a ten foot section to the lower floors, Eren wasn't heavy, if she jumped onto the remaining sections of stairs she probably wouldn't cause them to fall, maybe. She had to take the risk, moving back a few feet along a stable line of floor, she made a running jump onto the stairs, which shuddered, but didn't fall, fortunately she stumbled, and a shard of ice impaled itself in the wall next to where her head had been, she didn't have to look to see that Reiji was at the other end of the hall pointing one of his pistols at her, she began running down the stairs, ignoring the possibility of the stairs giving out beneath her, ice shards began raining down on her, one grazed her side, but the dark green light of her aura healed the cut in seconds, the floor at the bottom of the stairs had collapsed into the floor below at a slant, Eren slid down to the next floor and kept running.

Eren jumped out of a window, landed on the wall of the building next door, then she drew Puppet and Mirror in knife forms and jumped off the wall, she stabbed both knives into the side of the condemned building and slid down the side until she reached a second floor window and smashed through it into a roll, her aura protected her from the glass shards, the escaped assassin ran, jumping over or moving around weak points in the floor, her pistols were holstered at her sides again. Reiji stood in her path, she had no idea how he'd gotten there, but it didn't matter, she kept running forward, she dodged three shots from his pistol, then she kicked it out of his hand, he reached for his other gun but she kicked his hand away, they both took hand to hand stances, he threw a punch and she ducked under his arm, she elbowed him in the gut, but hit hard muscle, he'd tightened his stomach muscles to defend against her elbow strike, she backflipped out of the way of his retaliatory kick, then she focused her aura into a palm strike that he blocked with his own aura, a dark blue light, but that was just a distraction to get him to focus his aura on his torso, a high kick slammed into Reiji's face, breaking his nose and causing him to stagger back, Eren pulled Purgatory off her back, shifted it into rifle mode, and clubbed her former partner over the head, knocking him out cold.

"I'm sorry Reiji." Eren walked out, fired two shots with Purgatory, almost casually killing the last two snipers, and walked calmly over to her motorcycle. The sun was rising, and at ten o'clock she would need to be on the airship to Beacon.

(Author's Note: Yes I basically took Reiji and Eren (Zwei and Ein) straight from the anime Phantom: Requiem of the Phantom and RWBYfied them, I also reversed their roles, I didn't even bother changing their names, except for the last names, which I pretty much did just so they would fit the naming rules, I claim no ownership of those characters, though all other OCs in this fanfiction are mine, please read, enjoy, and review)


	4. Prologue: Walter Granite

The Giant

Walter Granite, all of seven feet tall, and three hundred pounds at seventeen was someone who stood out in a crowd, the sight of the massive machine gun strapped to his back that turned into a warhammer was enough to cause crowds to part for him, he hated the fear and ostracism that his size earned him, which was compounded when they realized that he couldn't speak, and he didn't fight back, the last time he had, and he'd nearly killed his tormentor.

Today Walter was in a Bullhead, acting as protection for the Dustplane's other passenger who was running a message out to the watchtowers set up several miles from Vale, the message was apparently too sensitive to be broadcast to the tower. Halfway to the destination a problem arose, if your definition of the word problem included a picture of a Giant Nevermore, whose sharp feathers sliced through the Bullhead's left wing, Walter picked up the messenger, and the pilot, and jumped out of the falling aircraft, ignoring the screams of both men in his ears, Walter began emitting aura as fast as he could, brown light poured from his body until they hit the ground like a meteor, Walter's huge aura was the only thing that prevented serious injury, he dumped both men on the ground and pulled Earthshaker, his weapon, from his back, taking aim at the huge bird Grimm, Walter opened fire, the bullets seemed to do very little damage to the monster, but they definitely made it mad, the avian monster swooped down low to the ground, heading straight for the humans, Walter continued to fire on the creature's head, when it was twenty feet away Walter twirled his gun and it changed into a massive hammer, brown light exploded out of Walter's body, he swung his hammer in a wide arc, and when the monster was within striking distance, the hammer slammed down onto the Nevermore with such force that the monster was stopped cold, it's head was smashed into the ground and it's skull was split from the force of the blow.

Walter grabbed the two men and hauled them to their feet, then he pointed at the tower in the distance, indicating that they still had a mission to complete. The two men and the giant teenager ran for the tower. A pack of thirty Beowulves stood between the humans and their destination. Walter leveled his machine gun at the monsters and began mowing them down, the rest charged, only six reached their targets, Earthshaker, in hammer form, smashed them as Walter twirled the huge weapon with ease, within seconds the remaining Beowulves were crushed. They kept running, luckily the area for ten miles around the Watchtower had been cleared of any rocks or vegetation, to prevent Grimm ambushes, Walter replaced the clip in Earthshaker, just as three massive roars shook the ground, they were less than a mile from the tower, and the sun was high in the sky, the ground shook as an enormous monster burst out of the forested area surrounding the watchtower, it looked like a mountain lion, except it was the size of a rhino standing in single file, with three white masked heads and bone shards sticking out of seemingly random parts of it's body, the creature's bounding strides were eating up the distance between it and the humans, the pilot and the messenger ran the rest of the way toward the tower while Walter raised Earthshaker in gun form and opened fire, the monster just kept charging, though it was clearly receiving damage from the Dust rounds it's blind fury made it impervious to pain, Walter shifted his weapon to melee form ran forward, and jumped onto the three headed monster's back, a switch on the hammer's shaft was flipped, and the back of the hammer head broke open, revealing a single booster rocket, which, when triggered brought the head of the hammer down on the monster's back with enough force to tear the monster in half. Earthshaker was stuck in hammer form until Walter performed maintenance on it, which would have to take place before ten tomorrow, as that was when he would need to be on the airship to Beacon.

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><p>(Author's Note: Yes this is short, but this is the last prologue and to be honest I'm getting a bit impatient to work on the actual story, please read, enjoy, and review)<p> 


	5. Chapter 1

**Chapter one: Orientation**

**(Kuro's POV)**

**Kuro walked onto the airship to Beacon, his new black leather trench coat open to reveal his guns and symbol to anyone who looked, and in fact he got more than the normal number of glances sent his way, most of them because of his bandaged eye, Kuro's Faunus hearing caught several whispers: "How long do you think that one-eyed guy will last?"**

**"****He won't make it past initiation, I bet."**

**Kuro smirked, those idiots would be eating those words soon enough, unfortunately the door to the airship closed soon after Kuro leaned against a wall, next to a trash can. The instant the airship began moving, the bat Faunus pulled his hair out of the way and vomited into the trash can, Kuro hated airships, he would much rather be flying to Beacon himself, but Professor Ozpin had told him that prospective students were required to take the airship, so here he was, puking his guts out. A hand tapped his shoulder, and Kuro looked up to see a huge boy holding out a pill.**

**"****Motion sickness medication?" Kuro asked, the boy nodded, the bat Faunus took the pill and dry swallowed it gratefully, his stomach began to feel better.**

**"****Thanks, I'm Kuro." The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper with the name Walter printed on it.**

**"****You're Walter?" The boy nodded.**

**"****You don't say much do you?" The boy pointed to his throat.**

**"****You're mute?" He nodded.**

**"****Huh, so, Walter you get motion sickness too?" Walter made a wave motion with his arm.**

**"****Seasickness?" He nodded.**

**"****That sucks, I hate flying in an airship, I prefer to do the flying myself." Walter frowned.**

**"****I'm a bat Faunus, I've got wings under this coat." Comprehension crossed Walter's face, he nodded. An excited yell drew the boys' attention to a long haired blonde hugging the life out of a smaller girl with red tinted black hair in a red cloak, Kuro's Faunus ears could easily make out what she was saying, and he repeated it to Walter. "The blonde is all worked up because the cloaked girl, who is apparently her sister, got move up two years to get in early, pretty impressive." Walter nodded, then he frowned at Kuro.**

**"****I'm part bat, I have excellent ears, I literally can't help but hear them, and just about everyone else on this airship, would you like to know what the people on the other side of the ship are saying, because I could tell you." Walter shook his head.**

**"****Yeah, I don't blame you, I didn't want to know what they were talking about either."**

**(Eren's POV)**

**Eren kept her attention roaming, making sure to take in the details of her surroundings, only two people stood out to her, a massive, seven foot tall boy, and another boy, whose pointed ears revealed him to be a bat Faunus, in a black trench coat, he had a pair of pistols strapped to his hips, and his coat probably hid his other weapons, but what intrigued her, or worried her, was the fact that one of his eyes was completely covered in bandages, along with the top left corner of his face, the bandages disappeared into the Faunus boy's shoulder length black hair, and his other eye had dark bags beneath it, indicating serious sleep deprivation. ****_What does he hope to accomplish as a Huntsman with only one eye? _****Eren wondered, even more curiously, he held himself confidently, as if he wasn't at any sort of disadvantage because of his eye, or his apparent lack of sleep, Eren's instincts told her that this boy was far more dangerous than he first appeared, she would need to keep an eye on him. A blonde boy staggered past her to the trash can, this boy drew her attention in a different way, the way he moved told her that he was a complete novice, she wondered how the boy had gotten into Beacon, not that it mattered, initiation would either kill him or have him sent back home, and if by some miracle he survived and passed, then the possibility that he'd snuck in wouldn't matter anymore, it would be up to him to become strong enough to survive the life he'd chosen.**

**(Kuro's POV)**

**When the airship finally landed Kuro and Walter walked out, and sucked in air in surprise, Beacon's main building was easily the most impressive structure either boy had ever seen, the moment of fascination, however was ruin by an explosion, Kuro's hands blurred to his pistols, but before he drew them, Walter tapped his shoulder and pointed to a pair of girls, one sitting as if knocked down, the other standing, and covered in soot, the bat Faunus relaxed, the explosion hadn't been an attack, the standing girl stamped her foot hard enough to shake the soot off of herself, she had white hair, a white combat dress, and a white and light blue bolero jacket, the sitting girl was the red cloaked prodigy from the airship. Kuro and Walter kept walking past the arguing duo, a girl with gold eyes, a black bow, and a catlike walk passed the duo with her nose buried in a leather bound book, Kuro wondered why the girl was hiding her Faunus heritage, and not very well either, as the bow twitched slightly when she passed them, sure Kuro himself hid his wings beneath a coat, but he did that for the tactical advantage of having wings nobody noticed immediately, and he didn't hide his ears or teeth, besides, the coat hid his weapons as well. Kuro whispered, loud enough that he knew the girl would hear him, but nobody else would.**

**"****Meow." She stiffened for a second, looked at him in shock, then recovered and headed toward the arguing explodees, burying herself in the book again. Kuro chuckled quietly, Walter frowned at him.**

**"****Not my secret to tell." Walter shrugged, he didn't really care, he'd just been curious. A cruel laugh caused Kuro to look over at a group of eight people surrounding a pair of nervous dog Faunus siblings, a brother and sister, the eight humans were tormenting the two Faunas. Kuro's literal inner psychopath began urging him to kill the bullies, he'd actually drawn Drakul's collapsed form before he realized what he'd done, Kuro walked quickly over to the group, Walter had followed him, the large machine gun that had been strapped to his back was gripped in both hands, the strap dangling.**

**"****Excuse me boys, but have you seen eight spinal columns lying around, you seem to have misplaced yours."**

**The biggest boy, who had brownish orange hair and armor with a bird on the chest, turned.**

**"****What did you say you one eyed freak?"**

**Kuro smiled and extended Drakul into full scythe mode. "I said that you are a bunch of cowards who can't pick on a pair of Faunas without outnumbering them four to one, so... let them go, and Walter and I don't kick your asses, though feel free to resist, I would honestly love to wipe these cobblestones with your faces, and Drakul is a bit thirsty, it's been nearly three days since he's cut anybody." Kuro's smile took on a definite crazy appearance.**

**"****Let's go guys, we don't have time to deal with this nutjob and his freakish buddy." The eight thugs walked away, Kuro dropped the crazy smile.**

**"****You two ok?"**

**The brother looked at Kuro nervously. "We're ok, but what the hell was that?"**

**"****Well, bullies are cowards, and I can be pretty intimidating when I want to be, the bandaged eye, the scythe, and the obvious signs of sleep deprivation, plus my best crazy impression and, bang! One scary nutjob. Not the first time I've done that, and it probably won't be the last."**

**"****Well, thanks, I guess some humans can be alright."**

**"****Who? Walter? Yeah I guess he is, as for me..." Kuro spread his coat, revealing his wings.**

**"****Well... Thanks anyways, both of you." The siblings walked off.**

**"****Well, that's my good deed for the day, let's go to the auditorium, or whatever it is they're having the orientation speech at." Kuro suggested.**

**(Reina's POV)**

**Reina walked into the auditorium/arena, she took a spot against the wall, she ****_hated _****crowds, too many people, too close together, the thought of being in the middle of that mass of bodies made her physically ill. ****_Easy Reina, you're just fine over here. _****Several people arrived who caught her interest, in different ways, the first was a girl in a yellow tunic-like shirt and a short grey skirt with a katana strapped to her back, and a pair of pistols under her arms, she walked as if she expected to be attacked at any moment, then there was a pair of boys, one, huge, blonde, and only communicating in gestures to his friend, a long haired boy of average height with his left eye covered in bandages, and wearing a long leather trench coat, this boy radiated danger for some reason, his posture, expression, and appearance were nonthreatening, but Reina could feel death radiating off of him like a cold wind, Reina was a powerful Sensor so she was probably sensing something about his soul, and that made Reina not want to be anywhere near the strange boy, there was the potential in him to be ten times worse than the monsters they were here to learn how to kill.**

**(Kuro's POV)**

**_You know what would make this place even better? An explosion right in the middle of this crowd. _****Kuro's Evil Eye was acting up again, the voice of the 'other him' was muttering brutal suggestions of what it thought would make their surroundings more pleasant, of course, they all involved gruesome and painful deaths, Kuro ignored his inner psychopath, as he listened to the headmaster's speech.**

**"****I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."**

**_Well at least he isn't sugar coating it... and he's right, knowledge is meaningless if it isn't acted upon. _****The bandaged scythe wielder thought, a prickling sensation told him he was being watched.**

**(Eren's POV)**

**As the crowd began filtering out of the auditorium Eren watched the strange one eyed Faunus boy, she wasn't a Sensor, but her time as an assassin had given her an instinct for spotting predators, and this boy qualified, his eye was constantly darting to the exits, and sizing up everyone around him, he held himself differently than in the airship, while travelling to Beacon, he'd been calm and confident, but unconcerned with his surroundings, now he was looking at everyone around him as if he was ready to meet an attack from any direction with lethal force, somewhat like what she herself was doing, perhaps he was similar to her, he had enemies hunting him, and he suspected nearly everyone around him, his instincts telling him to attack, but his brain reminding him that the other students were unlikely to be hunting him, Eren wondered idly what had brought about the change in his demeanor.**

**(Kuro's POV)**

**Kuro met the eyes of a small black haired girl who had been staring at him, she looked away quickly, but Kuro had seen emptiness in her green eyes, a kind of blank space where humanity usually sat, no ****_not _****empty, there had been a tiny spark of life, as if her emotions, and conscience, were imperfectly locked away, but not gone. It took a killer to know a killer on sight, and that girl had blood on her hands, probably as much as he did. He wondered if she had any connection to the Silver Eyes, and if she did, he would have to kill her before she became a threat, he didn't like killing people, he avoided it whenever possible, but he'd done it before, even without his Eye, and he would likely be forced to do it again at some point, he had to, in order to survive.**

**(Nighttime, still Kuro's POV)**

**Kuro sat in a tree in the courtyard, he was in his sleepwear, a pair of ratty sweatpants, and nothing else, and he'd flown up, now he was sitting on a thick branch giving his wings a much needed stretch.**

**"****So, that's how you knew." A girl's voice almost caused Kuro to fall out of the tree. ****_How did I not hear her? _****He thought, before turning to see the black haired girl who'd intervened in the explosion induced argument earlier, the black haired Cat Faunus who hid her ears under the bow on the top of her head. Kuro dropped from his perch, flapped his wings twice to slow his fall, and channeled aura into his legs, just in case, then he turned to the girl, she was several inches shorter than him, and she'd changed from her previous outfit of a white blouse, black vest, black shorts and black and purple tights, into a black sleeping yukata, belted at her waist by a white cloth belt, her luminous gold eyes watched his drop, and when he turned to face her they met his single black eye directly, this was a girl with confidence and strength, the moon was bright out, and Kuro noticed how the moonlight caused her pale skin to glow. ****_Whoa, where did that come from? _****Sure this girl was easily one of the most beautiful he'd ever met, but he didn't usually notice these sort of things except in passing, but the more he looked at the girl the more he was entranced, he shook his head free of that line of thought and initiated the conversation.**

**"****My name's Kuro Tepes, what's yours?"**

**"****Blake Belladonna." Blake answered, a small smile graced her lips, before her eyes widened at the sight of Kuro's torso, he was lean and muscular, but it probably hadn't been his physique that had caught her attention, but rather the scars that crisscrossed his body, there were dozens, and several of them were quite large.**

**"****What... How...?" Blake tried to ask.**

**"****A short, vicious life and a few times pissing off the wrong people." Kuro answered, folding his wings against his back.**

**"****So... Blake, what brings you out here, and in answer to your previous question, I figured out that you're a Faunus because I saw your bow twitch in a way that a bow that didn't contain Faunus ears would never do, then I guessed feline by your eyes and your style of walking, it wasn't all that hard, I wonder..."**

**"****What?"**

**"****Sorry, just wondering why you hide them, you don't seem like the type who would let what people thought dictate how you present yourself."**

**Blake's expression turned bitter. "You only barely met me, and now you think you know all about me?"**

**"****No, I know next to nothing about you, but what I've observed tells me that you don't care about things that carry a cultural stigma, when you saw my scars, you were shocked at how extensive they were, but you weren't disgusted, and you didn't pity me for the scars, or my eye, that tells me that you wouldn't care if people knew you were a Faunus, that what you're really hiding is something a bit darker... But, it's not my business, so I won't ask about it."**

**"****If you don't mind me asking, how did you..." Blake indicated Kuro's bandaged eye.**

**"****Lose my eye? I didn't, the eye under these bandages is perfectly healthy, it's just too dangerous to open except in emergencies, and that's all I'll say on the subject, we've both got things we'd rather not talk about, this is mine."**

**"****Alright." Kuro could tell that his answer had just made her even more curious, but he wasn't going to tell her about the monster in his head, and if he had a choice about it, nobody at Beacon would know anything about it.**

**(Blake's POV)**

**Blake watched Kuro walk away, his black wings almost making him invisible in the night, only his arms and lower body were properly visible, even to keen night vision of a cat Faunus, it was still a pretty good view. ****_The hell? I barely know the guy, and I'm checking out his butt. _****Shaking her head at the strangeness of teenage hormones, Blake quickly scaled the tree Kuro had just vacated and pulled out her book, maybe a trip into fantasyland would take her mind off the persistent enigma of Kuro Tepes.**

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><p><strong>(Author's Note: And here's the first day at Beacon, yeah I gave Kuro more attention than others, but that's because, even for a school for people with unusual powers who are in training to kill evil monsters, Kuro is <em>weird<em>, he's got one eye covered, and even though nobody knows it, he's mentally unstable, and entirely too comfortable with death, it shows in subtle ways that most people aren't even aware they're noticing, but it makes people uneasy when the notice him, and so, they either ignore him, or pay extra attention to him, and Sensors have it even worse, as they can sense the presence of his other personality.)**


	6. Chapter 2

Chapter two: Initiation

(Kuro's POV)

Kuro stood on the metal platform at the edge of Beacon cliff listening to Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch tell the initiates the rules of the initiation.

"For years you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin informed the class.

Then Professor Goodwitch spoke. "I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the formation of teams, allow me to put an end to your confusion, each of you will be given teammates, _today_." There were several dismayed outcries, which both professors ignored.

Ozpin's calm voice continued the explanation. "These teammates will be with you for the remainder of your time here at Beacon, so it is within you best interest to be partnered with someone with whom you can work well... That being said, the first person you make eye contact with upon landing will be your partner for the next four years."

A girl's voice shrieked loud enough to make Kuro's ears ring from fifteen feet away. "WHAT!?"

Another girl spoke to one of her friends. "See, I told you!"

Ozpin ignored them and continued. "After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest, you will meet opposition along the way, do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... Or you _will_ die." A boy gulped nervously, Kuro himself gave a satisfied smirk, he was looking forward to this.

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics, you and your partner will retrieve one, then make your way back to the cliffs, we will guard that relic, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Any questions?"

The boy who'd gulped raised his hand. "Yeah, sir, I have a question?"

The headmaster pretended he hadn't heard the boy. "Good! Now, take your positions." A girl was launched into the air from her platform, which held a spring beneath it. Kuro removed his coat and tossed it to Professor Ozpin.

"Look after that for me, will you Professor?" Kuro didn't hear Ozpin's reply, because he was launched immediately afterwards, he straightened his body, and at the peak of his flight, opened his wings, flapping gently to the ground.

When Kuro landed he drew Drakul, and extended it into scythe form, keeping his ears pricked for any sounds of monsters, or fellow initiates. Wings folded tight against his back, scythe held in both hands, Kuro began heading north, every once in a while he would activate his, admittedly pathetic, Sensor abilities, just in case something had managed to sneak up on him, the sixteenth time he did this he sensed a soul larger than any forest animal's in the branches of a tree twenty feet away.

"I can Sense you up there, so you might as well come down." He called to the person. The girl who'd been staring at him during the orientation speech, now wearing a blank and featureless, full face mask, dropped to the ground in front of him, their eyes met.

"Looks like we're partners, so, my name's Kuro Tepes, what's yours?"

"Eren Orchid." The girl replied, her mask made her voice slightly muffled. They started walking.

Ten minutes later, Kuro heard a pack of Beowulves closing in on them, he raised his hand, stopping Eren in her tracks.

"Beowulves, approximately twenty of them, coming in fast from north, west and south." He reported, the masked girl nodded, then she drew her katana, and crouched, ready for a fight, Kuro took up a position behind her, Drakul held in an underhanded ready position, his Faunus eyes caught the shapes of six heading straight through the trees in front of him, one leapt out, only to be met in midair by Drakul's blade which sliced through bone as easily as flesh, a quick twirl of the staff, a sidestep, and Drakul hooked the neck of another monster, a short pull cleaved through the creature's neck, another twirl and Drakul's butt slammed into a third monster's nose, the other three hit at the same time, a swirling slash sliced the left arm off of one, the shaft knocked aside a swipe from the second, and the third lost it's lower jaw in mid lunge for a bite, the rest of it's head quickly followed, two steps forward, and a fast, short, jerk of the handle sliced the one armed Beowulf in half, the two uninjured monsters were on either side of Kuro, who hooked the neck of the fifth monster with Drakul, drew Suffering, and shot the sixth at the same moment he beheaded the fifth, he turned and saw his partner engaging four at once, six already dead, Kuro retracted Drakul into Kama and chain mode, he threw the weapon, impaling a monster that had been attempting to sneak up on Eren in the neck, a single flap of his wings, and a yank on the chain, sent Kuro flying past his partner, firing Suffering in his right hand at the remaining three unoccupied Beowulves, before they could attack Eren, his Dust rounds punched holes in the three monsters, just as Eren stabbed her last opponent with Mirror. Kuro holstered his pistol, retracted Drakul into it's inactive form and put it away. The duo kept moving through the forest.

Thirty minutes, three Ursi, and a juvenile King Taijitu later they found the temple, a circle of ruined stone with various pedestals, which held chess pieces. While Eren took a black knight piece Kuro heard two people approach, they were talking, and both were female, in fact, Kuro recognised one of the voices.

"Think this is it?" The first voice asked.

"Yes I do... And so do those two." Blake's voice answered. Kuro turned to meet the girls, standing next to the bow wearing Cat Faunus was a busty blonde with lilac eyes, who Kuro recognised as the girl with the prodigy sister.

"Hey Blake." Kuro greeted.

Blake smiled slightly. "Hi, Kuro."

The blonde looked at the two Faunas. "You two know each other?"

Blake nodded. "We met last night, Yang Xiao Long, meet Kuro Tepes, I don't know your name though." Blake indicated Eren.

"Eren Orchid." The masked Assassin supplied.

"Alright Blake, Let's pick a relic."

"Why don't you do that?"

"Alright, how about a cute little pony?" Yang snatched up a white knight, Kuro snorted with laughter, at Yang's choice of words. A high pitched scream sounded.

"Some girl's in trouble!" Yang cried.

Blake however was looking straight up, Kuro looked up too, to see Yang's sister falling out of the sky, Kuro was about to launch himself into the air to catch the falling girl, when a blonde boy came flying out of nowhere and collided with her in midair, knocking them both into a tree.

Blake looked at the pair in the tree incredulously. "Did your sister just fall from the sky?" She asked Yang.

"Um.." Was all Yang had time to say, before a giddy female voice shrieked.

"YEEE-HAAAWWW!" An Ursa ran into the clearing and collapsed when a pink explosion hit it's back, an orange haired girl in a white shirt and pink skirt fell off the dead monster, she got up quickly and examined her deceased mount.

"Awww, it's broken!" She complained, a boy in a green tailcoat and loose white pants staggered out from behind the bearlike Grimm, breathing hard.

"Nora.. _gasp_.. Please.. _gasp_.. Don't ever do that again." The green clad boy told his partner, only to look up and find her not there. The orange haired girl, Nora, had zipped across the clearing to the temple, her teal eyes widened as she examined a white rook, which she snatched up and began dancing with, singing "I'm Queen of the Castle! I'm Queen of the Castle!"

Her black haired partner with the pink eyes lost his patience.

"NORA!"

Nora giggled, tipped the chess piece off of it's spot on her head, and skipped over to her friend with a cheerful "coming Ren!"

Blake blinked in further shock. "Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?"

As soon as she said this a girl with long red hair, who looked a bit like an amazon, with a round shield on her left arm, and a red and gold Xiphos in her right hand, ran out of the trees, a massive scorpionlike Deathstalker hot on her tail, as they watched she jumped between snapping pincers and rolled to her feet, still running full tilt towards the temple.

The blonde boy in the tree called out to her.

"Pyrrha!"

"Jaune!" The red haired amazon cried.

Ruby abandoned Jaune, who was hanging upside down from a tree branch.

He tried to call her back but she headed straight for her sister.

"Ruby?" Yang grinned and held out her arms for a hug.

"Yang!" Ruby ran to her sister, only for Nora to pop up between the siblings with a yell of "NORA!"

Blake was still looking at Pyrrha. "Did she just run all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail?"

Yang literally exploded, flames bursting into life all over her body, though none of them seemed to burn her. "GAAAAH! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! COULD EVERYONE JUST CHILL OUT FOR TWO SECONDS BEFORE SOMETHING CRAZY HAPPENS AGAIN!"

_And the obvious punchline in three... two... one..._ Kuro thought. He smiled when Ruby tapped her sister's shoulder nervously, as Ren joined the group.

"Um, Yang..." The blonde girl slumped in defeat before looking up at what Ruby was pointing to.

"How could you leave me!" About a hundred feet in the air, hanging desperately from the talon of a giant Nevermore, Weiss Schnee called down to her partner.

"I said jump!" Ruby called back.

"She's gonna fall." Blake pointed out.

"She'll be fine." Ruby insisted.

"She's falling." Eren and Ren stated emotionlessly.

Jaune attempted to catch Weiss, at this point Kuro cut in and flew them both safely to the ground, struggling somewhat from the weight.

"My hero." Weiss deadpanned to Jaune.

"Screw you Princess." Kuro retorted, breathing heavily. Pyrrha managed to jump out of the way of the Deathstalker's sting, landing on her side in front of the group.

"Well the gang's all here..." Yang began, but Kuro interrupted her.

"Not quite, look over there." Out of the treeline came Walter and a tall blonde girl carrying an assault rifle with a bayonet-like blade under the barrel, they were running at top speed, and behind them came a Juggernaut, a massive, armor plated Rhino Grimm with three horns.

"Great!" Yang continued. "Now we can all die together."

"Not if I can help it!" Ruby exclaimed.

Ruby pulled a boxy object off of her back, which unfolded into a scythe, even larger than Drakul, which Kuro drew and extended to full length.

Ruby caught sight of the black shafted weapon and grinned happily.

"Hey! We're scythe buddies!"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night kid." Ruby charged the Deathstalker, while Kuro spread his wings and literally flew at the Juggernaut, several gunshots had Kuro looking back at Eren, her sword shifted into a sniper rifle, unloading her current clip into the massive black Rhinoceros monster, the Dust rounds did absolutely nothing.

"Eren, shoot my scythe!" Kuro called, the masked sniper didn't hesitate or question, she fire her last four shots directly into the blade of Drakul which went from silver to nearly black as Kuro flew over his friend and his partner, and swung the scythe at the creature, the blade ricocheted off of the bony plates, but the explosion of energy stored in the weapon caused the huge monster to stumble and hesitate, though it didn't seem to actually hurt the Juggernaut, Kuro backwinged, turned, and flew away from the monster as fast as possible, he saw Weiss standing over Ruby, a massive wall of ice trapping the Deathstalker's stinger, eight Nevermore feathers were sticking out of the ground. When Kuro and his charges reached the group, Kuro took charge.

"Walter, you and your partner are going to come with Eren and I, we need to draw off that Juggernaut, even with twelve students, three giant Grimm is too many, so we need to separate them, and there's no way we're losing that thing, got it?" The other three nodded.

Ruby, Jaune, and Walter grabbed relics, Ruby took a white knight, Jaune a white rook, and Walter a black knight.

Kuro turned to Blake. "Do me a favor: don't die."

"Back at you."

Kuro's group charged the Juggernaut, firing their guns at it's head to get it's attention, halfway there they changed directions, leading the enraged monster away from the others.

The four teenagers ran through the trees as fast as they could, considering they had to dodge them, while the Juggernaut simply smashed it's way through. As he ran Kuro began formulating a plan, he wished he knew more about his companion's capabilities, Walter's machine gun had changed into a warhammer that he was using to help keep his path mostly clear, his partner's assault rifle appeared to be made of two combined pistols, she also had a sniper rifle strapped to her back, it seemed like it would have at least one other form, but Kuro didn't have the slightest idea what it might be, and he knew his and Eren's weapons, and the only Semblance among them that he knew of was his own, unlike Boarbatusks, Juggernauts had armor even on their underbellies, in fact, the only parts of the massive Grimm that didn't have some armor were the inside of the mouth, right under the armored tail, the eyes, the nostrils, and the soles of their feet, so unless they could hit it in the mouth, eye, or nostril, they would have to break through the armor plates, the plan began to take concrete shape, Kuro began filling his teammates in on the run.

When they reached a suitable clearing the four initiates leapt into position, Kuro shifted Drakul into kama and chain mode and wrapped it around two trees, forming a tripline with the chain, the Juggernaut hit the chain and toppled, bringing down both trees with it, brown light exploded from Walter's body, and the back of Earthshaker's head broke open, revealing the booster rocket, which triggered, this combined with Walter's Strength Semblance obliterated the largest backplate on impact, Reina, Walter's partner, unloaded the contents of her assault rifle into the Juggernaut's back, then Eren drove her sword all the way into the monster's back. Then, as if the universe was punishing them for thinking they might have been out of danger, a giant Nevermore, larger even than the one they had left back at the temple, cawed in challenge, Kuro looked around at his team, they were all either out of bullets (Reina), exhausted (Eren), or holding a ruined weapon (Walter), it would be up to him to save them, which meant he couldn't hold back.

"Does anyone have any tranquilizer rounds?"

Eren nodded. "I do, but I doubt they'd work on something that big."

"They're not for the Nevermore, they're for me, once I've killed it, you need to tranq me as fast as you can, and nobody is going to tell anyone about what you see here, got it?" The others were confused, but nodded. Kuro removed his bandages.

Under his breath he whispered. "Alright you feathery freak, it's about time you learn what fear is." He opened his Evil Eye, the change was immediate, an insane grin spread across his face, he reveled in his companions' gasps of shock at the monstrous eye, and the massive surge of unstable aura that poured from him, Drakul's chain retracted, pulling the kama back into its owner's hand, Evil Kuro spread his wings and rocketed toward the Nevermore.

"Let's see what a Demon's blood tastes like, shall we Weakling?" Drakul's chain extended again as the Nevermore shot a dozen feathers at the charging bat Faunus, who whipped Drakul around, knocking the feathers away from him, then he wrapped the chain around the Nevermore's neck, then he flew past the monster and dragged it to the ground, when the monster hit the ground Evil Kuro jumped on it's chest, grabbed the Kama, and cut a gash in the side of the Nevermore's head, he scooped up some blood and drank it, then he began draining the monster of life, using his free hand to catch more blood to drink.

His teammates watched in fascinated horror as the previously calm and collected teenager drained the life from the giant monster, made dozens of small cuts on it's body for no other reason than to cause his victim pain, and drink the creature's blood with evident enjoyment.

"Holy shit! This guy's a complete nutjob." Reina commented.

Walter, who knew not to touch his partner waved in front of her face, when she looked at him, he pointed at Kuro, then at his own ears.

"He can hear me?" Reina asked nervously, Walter nodded.

Eren calmly loaded Purgatory with tranq rounds.

As Kuro's Evil Eye finally got bored with the avian, he took Drakul's kama form in his left hand, then he touched his black glowing right hand to the blade, which absorbed the energy until the blade was jet black, laced with glowing red lines, then he stabbed the blade into the Nevermore, a massive black and red explosion vaporized the monster, and seconds later, three of Eren's tranq rounds hit him in the back, and he was out like a light.

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><p>(Author's Note: And here's chapter two, hope you like it, please read, enjoy, and review, thank you.)<p> 


	7. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Team KROW**

**(Kuro's POV)**

**Kuro woke up in a bed, he was in what looked like a large hospital room, panic hit the teenager in an instant, he rolled out of bed and fell to his knees, the first thing he noticed was that the room was empty of people except for him, the second thing was that his left eye had been rebandaged, and his coat was hanging from a chair next to the bed, in the coat pocket was a slip of paper, it read: ****"****_Mr. Tepes, congratulations on completing initiation, you have been named the leader of Team KROW along with Miss Reina Waters, Miss Eren Orchid, and Mr. Walter Granite, directions to your team's dorm are on the backside of this note, good luck: Professor Ozpin, P.S. Your belongings, including weapons, were delivered to your dorm along with those of your teammates."_**

**Kuro hated hospitals, and to his mind the school infirmary was just an extremely small scale hospital, so, despite the fact that he was shirtless and had a large bandage across his torso, apparently the Nevermore had gotten in a hit that he hadn't felt in his frenzy, ****_great, another scar_****, Kuro slung on his ankle length leather coat, then he walked out of the infirmary and followed the directions to his dorm.**

**_The next morning_**

**Kuro woke up from nightmares of blood, death, and indistinct screaming forms. The clock that was supplied by the school read seven thirty, the bat Faunus rolled out of bed, he was a stomach sleeper, anything else hurt his wings, before gathering up his uniform, which had been given wing holes at the shoulder blade area, on the white dress shirt, blue vest, and gold lined black suit, he carried his clothes into the dorm's shower. Once he was showered, bandaged, both torso and eye, changed, stuck Drakul in it's back holster beneath the jacket, and holstered his pistols under the jacket, he strolled out of the bathroom and said, loudly.**

**"****Alright team KROW, rise and shine!" Walter woke up groggily, Reina stirred and muttered.**

**"****Shut up you psychotic freak, before I stick your scythe where the sun doesn't shine."**

**Eren just got up quietly, instantly awake and alert.**

**"****Why aren't you in the infirmary? The wound you received should have kept you in bed for at least another day."**

**"****I hate medical facilities, I let myself out, don't worry, I'll be able to participate in class."**

**Eren shrugged. "I wasn't worried, I just wanted you to be aware that you shouldn't do anything strenuous for at least a day to allow your wound to heal, I would also like to know if you are a danger to me, and the rest of the team."**

**Reina immediately snapped awake.**

**"****Not unless one of you tries to kill me, or is a member of Silver Eye."**

**Reina growled. "What do you know about those bastards?"**

**Kuro pulled Drakul out and extended it, the blade a fraction of an inch away from Reina's jugular, Eren had Mirror pointed at his head, and Walter had his fists raised.**

**"****The question is, what do you know about them?" Kuro asked, his voice lethally calm, his expression not changing in the least from it's relaxed state, completely ignoring the gun pointed at his head.**

**"****I've been hunting one of their members: Hellrider."**

**"****Why?"**

**"****Because he killed my uncle."**

**"****So it's family loyalty?"**

**"****Hell no! The asshole took my prey. The fat bastard was molesting my sister, she told me so, right before she killed herself."**

**Kuro retracted Drakul and stored it, still not looking at his partner.**

**"****Eren, please put the gun away, I'm not going to attack you."**

**"****Not until you tell me your connection with the Silver Eyes."**

**The bat faunus turned to face the assassin, and met her cold green eyes with his single, unemotional black one.**

**"****They're the reason I have to keep my left eye covered to avoid going on a homicidal rampage, they're also the reason I'm here at all, I don't actually care very much about people I don't know, and I'm certainly not the type to put my life at risk for them, I helped you during the initiation because Professor Ozpin promised that I could be considerably more secure as a student at this school, and that meant that I needed to pass initiation, Huntsman training also gives me the chance to hone my skills, and if I graduate from this academy then I will likely take this all the way and become an active Huntsman, because Huntsmen don't just fight Grimm, they also take down criminal organizations that the police can't handle, which means that I have a chance to destroy the Silver Eye Cult once and for all, if a life of hunting down monsters is the price for that chance, I'll take it."**

**Eren lowered her pistol and looked her partner in the eye.**

**"****I was a member of Silver Eye, they kidnapped me at a young age and brainwashed me to be an assassin, for reasons I refuse to disclose, I recently broke free of their control and am currently trying to actually put my skills to use where they are truly needed, rather than where they were forced to go."**

**Kuro nodded. "Fine, I'll accept your story, but I ****_will _****be keeping a close eye on you, if you return to your old masters, I will personally put a bullet through your skull." Eren accepted his words with a short nod.**

**The bat winged leader of Team KROW looked at the clock on his Scroll, eight.**

**"****All of your stuff, including your school uniform and Scroll are in the parcel next to your beds, work out the shower schedule and get dressed, I'm going to go somewhere quiet, we have Grimm Studies at nine, there's a map function on your Scroll, I'll see you in class."**

**Kuro walked out of the dorm and headed to the roof.**

**(Blake's POV)**

**Blake had to admit, living with three other girls promised to be an interesting experience, Ruby and Yang were excited to be at Beacon, which was apparently a long held dream for both of them, and their energy was infectious, Blake found herself joining in on the sisters' antics, something that she normally would never have done, but she allowed herself to enjoy it. A part of Blake wondered what Adam would think if he saw her now, pretending to be human, living with three humans, including the Schnee heiress for Dust's sake, the other part wondered what Kuro would think, which made no sense at all to her, they had only just met, besides, there was a coldness about him that made her think of some of the crueler members of the White Fang she'd worked with, except that Kuro didn't hate humans, but there was no doubt, he was the type of person she'd run away to escape from having to work with, except... There seemed to be more to him than that, he was calculating, cold, and deadly, but there was still a measure of goodness in him, he'd thrown himself into danger to protect Walter and Reina without a second thought, so he wasn't totally lost, like Adam was, and Blake resolved to try to prevent him from falling that last, precious, distance, of losing any respect for the lives of others. The cat eared bookworm had no idea ****_why _****she felt so strongly that the scythe wielding bat faunus shouldn't be allowed to let his heart go totally dark, but she was sure that she, Blake Belladonna, would be the one to prevent that fall, or put him out of his misery, should she fail.**

**(Kuro's POV)**

**Professor Port had to be the most boring human on the face of this planet, the old Huntsman spent most of the class telling them about how he'd captured a Beowulf alive as a teenager, which nobody in his class was remotely interested in hearing about, the most interesting part of the class was when he set a Boarbatusk on Weiss Schnee, the Dust company heiress killed it with little trouble, and the only trouble she did have was self inflicted, she kept losing her patience with Ruby and letting her emotions distract her from the monster she was fighting. When the Boarbatusk was finally dead, Professor Port declared the class over, and Team KROW's leader left his teammates behind to go to his next class.**

**(Blake's POV, end of the school day)**

**Blake saw Kuro walk out of their History classroom, she was still trying to decide how to approach him, she'd come to the conclusion that the best way to help Kuro was to get to know him, but Blake had never been very good at making friends, and Kuro wasn't the most approachable Faunus in the world, at lunch he'd sat alone, keeping away even from his team, in the three classes they'd had together that day, he'd always sat in the back of the class, as far away from the other students as he could manage, that was fine, it could actually be a point in her favor, his isolation would cut down on distractions and interference, Blake was treating this like one of her missions for the White Fang, first case the target, learn his habits, his capabilities, and his quirks, then go for the kill, except this time the last step wasn't literal. Blake wondered how Kuro would react if she told him about that part of her history, he probably wouldn't care, the scars on his torso, his sleep deprivation, and his personality were pretty good signs that his hands weren't clean either. Still deep in thought, Blake got up to follow her teammates out the door, but she was stopped by Weiss.**

**"****Blake, what do you know about that Kuro boy?" The white haired heiress demanded.**

**Blake blinked, and had to consciously prevent her cat ears from twitching in surprise.**

**"****Not much, why?"**

**"****Because he's dangerous, I can Sense it, you should stay away from him." Weiss told her, Blake had to stop another shocked twitch, Weiss Schnee was a Sensor? Blake certainly hadn't seen that coming.**

**"****What do you mean? I know he's had a rough life, his upper body is covered in scars, but he's never shown any hostility towards me."**

**"****Do you know why he was sent to the infirmary after the initiation?"**

**"****He was wounded, he still is, he's been limping slightly all day."**

**"****I asked the nurse in charge of him, and it turns out that, not only was he wounded, he also received three tranquilizer rounds to his lower back, which implies that one of his own teammates shot him. I don't care if he seems nonthreatening to you, if his own team felt they needed to knock him out, then he's a danger to everyone." If she'd learned that much about someone from another team, she'd probably bribed the nurse, and Blake had no idea why she would go to the trouble for someone she'd never really met.**

**"****His eye..." Blake wasn't aware that she'd spoken out loud, until Weiss asked. "What?"**

**"****When I talked to him before initiation, I asked him how he'd lost his eye, he said that he hadn't, that the reason he kept his left eye covered was because something about it was too dangerous to allow the eye to open except in emergencies, he probably had to open it during initiation, and once whatever threat that made him take off his bandages was dealt with one of his teammates tranqed him, so that whatever his eye does wouldn't hurt the others."**

**"****If that's true, then you have even more reason to avoid him, he's got some sort of power that even he believes is too dangerous to be left unchecked, to the point where he basically blinded himself in one eye, putting himself at a major disadvantage, just so that he wouldn't use it, what happens if his bandages are damaged in a fight? He could kill anyone near him, do you want one of those people to be you?"**

**"****No, I'm going to keep that from happening, I'm the only one who could." Before Weiss could retort, Blake walked passed her and down the hall.**

**(Weiss' POV)**

**Weiss Schnee grumbled as she walked back to the dorm, there she was, trying to be a good teammate by warning Blake of her suspicions about the bat Faunus boy, whom Blake had been showing an obvious interest in all day, and instead of being discouraged, the quiet bookworm was now determined to save the boy from himself, Weiss had never understood girls who became involved with a boy as an attempt to "fix" him, but that was what this was looking like to her, shaking her head at the foolishness of her teammate, Weiss Schnee, Duelist, Dust user, Glyph caster, Sensor, and heiress, headed to the library to study before bed, she would have to talk with Blake later about her "project", and she would have to apologise to Ruby for the way she'd been acting recently, Professor Port was right, there was no point in taking her frustrations over not being made leader out on the younger girl, it wasn't her fault that Ozpin had made the choice he had, and Weiss had begun to think that maybe, just ****_maybe _****the young reaper would surprise her.**

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><p><strong>(Author's Note: Here's my new installment to the story, please Read, Review, and Enjoy)<strong>


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